Health and Economic Impacts of an Early Labor Induction Policy for High-BMI Mothers

We expand the literature on marginal returns to birth interventions by studying a common intervention: early induction of labor for a growing share of pregnancies, high-Body Mass Index (BMI) women. We exploit Danish guidelines which recommend routine induction at 7 days after the expected due date instead of 10-13 days after for mothers with a pre-pregnancy BMI of at least 35. Our results show that early labor induction improves immediate maternal and neonatal health, reduces universal nurse visits during the child's first year of life, as well as maternal postpartum depression risks (suggestive).